ONE: Bloomsburg Fair Raceway Struggles to Well, Bloom
It’s no secret that the return of racing to the Bloomsburg Fair Raceway has not gone as smoothly as hoped since the fairgrounds added a custom-built racetrack that was designed in part by former USAC official Levi Jones. Noise complaints, dust complaints and an erratic special events only schedule have all proved problematic for the new venue.
Wednesday night’s (Aug. 25) All-Star Circuit of Champions race at the facility was yet another rough outing for the facility. Let’s start with the race surface, which took truckloads of what was supposed to be improved clay to cut down on the dust problem.
From the naked eye, that did appear to be achieved, as the camera shots down the frontstretch didn’t look anywhere near as dusty as what I saw when I visited the track back in June. But, heavy rain led to another problem: a bumpy track surface.
Derek Hauck wheel stands on the fron stretch @ASCoC @BlakeAnderson @BloomFairRacewy pic.twitter.com/cLkP5oOBLP
— Cameron Saich (@ccsaich) August 24, 2022
Mother Nature’s fault or not, it’s not a good sign when Pennsylvania Posse driver Danny Dietrich finished in the top five and STILL had bad things to say about the track surface.
Solid night at one of the worst surfaces I’ve ever raced on. Was elbows up tonight @bloomsburgfairraceway and came away in one piece & a 4th place finish! https://t.co/Jz475O7LcG
— Danny Dietrich (@dannydietrich) August 25, 2022
Now, whether it’s the track surface, a mid-week race date or something else, the reality is the crowd in the stands Wednesday night was anemic, as was the car count, with less than 20 sprints showing up for the $6,000-to-win event. That didn’t carry over to Thursday, with 27 cars showing up for the ASCoC’s event at Bridgeport Motorsports Park in New Jersey.
It’s hard to know what’s going wrong here. The track was built by experienced people, is being promoted by officials with ties to the mega-successful Port Royal Speedway and has a well-maintained covered grandstand. But a return to racing more than 30 years in the making has got to go better than Wednesday.
TWO: Accomplishing What DIRTcar Modifieds Could Not
I’ve got to give credit for the genesis of this thought to fellow Trackchaser and Area Auto Racing News contributor Guy Smith, who I spent some time chatting with Tuesday night at a figure-8 race at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in West Virginia. The fairgrounds was…
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